


Nothing In This World

by SlarStarsFanFics



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Angst, Anxiety Attacks, Badly, Childhood, Cute Kids, Drabbles, Drug Use, Gen, Good Sibling Klaus Hargreeves, Good Sibling Luther Hargreeves, Goodbyes, Grief/Mourning, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Marijuana, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Overdosing, Post-Season/Series 01, Pre-Canon, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Sibling Bonding, They all need hugs, but not because anyone tries anything, ghosts are mean, its just mentioned, sibling breakups, these poor kids, unnamed villians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:47:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23643334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlarStarsFanFics/pseuds/SlarStarsFanFics
Summary: “If you were in trouble, there is nothing in this world Luther wouldn’t do to save your scrawny little junkie ass.”-5 times Luther saved Klaus + 1 time they saved each other
Relationships: Klaus Hargreeves & Luther Hargreeves
Comments: 27
Kudos: 175





	1. On Top Of The World, But Not For Long

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this completely out of spite of people who say Luther only cares about himself and Allison, because I call bull. Case in point, any scene he has with Five. I really hope that him and Klaus get to address and move past the issues in their relationship next season, no matter how unlikely that might be.

It was the Hargreeves fifth birthday when little Number Four decided it would be a wonderful idea to climb on top of the timber pile. He almost fell a couple times, scratching his knobby knees. 

Number Four’s siblings were playing far away with no supervision. Mom was inside and Dad was writing in his book and Pogo was fixing something in the basement. Their free time was limited, and they were gonna make the most of it.

His little heart soured as he made it to the top of the pile. He was taller than all of his siblings, even Number One! He stood with the elegance of a newborn deer and threw his arms out wide. Suddenly the wood shifted beneath him. He stumbled a little bit. His legs fell out from underneath him and he felt himself falling. 

Number Four shut his eyes tight and braced himself for impact. It never came. He opened one eye and saw the worried face of Number One. The blonde boy set him down on the ground and made an attempt to check him over, grabbing his squishy cheeks with his hands. Their brothers and sisters were standing in a circle around them. 

Number One looked almost ready to cry.

“You scared us! Don’t do that again!”

Number Four nodded. He didn’t want to do it again. Dad would get mad if he got hurt. He didn’t like it when dad got mad at him.

Number One pulled him to his feet and gave him a toothy grin. 

“Come play with me and Number Six! We’re building a fort with mud!”

“That sounds fun!” Number Four replied, grinning back. Number Six grabbed his other hand and both of his brothers pulled him towards their spot in the dirt. 

Eventually, they were called inside and no one said a word about the almost-incident. 


	2. Hand In Hand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place some time between the first mission as he Five’s disappearance.

“But Dad-“

“I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR IT NUMBER FOUR, THIS BEHAVIOUR IS UNACCEPTABLE!”

“But I don’t want to go back!”

“You cannot be afraid of your own power, Number Four.”

Klaus pushed himself up against the wall, pressing his palms against it. Sir. Reginald continued to yell. The hallway felt extremely small. He fell, hitting the ground and curled his legs under himself. 

“I’ll be better, I swear! Just don’t send me back, please!” 

Tears started prickling his big, green eyes. He dropped his head into his hands.

“Pathetic.”

Footsteps echoed down the hallway. 

“Dad! Five thinks he found a new mission and wants you to go see.” Luther said, like a soldier to his superior. Sir. Reginald sighed deeply and pushed past his son, heading down the hallway. 

As soon as he disappeared from view, Luther ran to his side and placed a hesitant hand on his hair. He started petting it gently.

“Are you okay?”

Klaus lifted his head and wiped his nose with his blazer sleeve. He nodded dejectedly. 

“I’m okay.”

Luther pulled him to his feet. They wandered down the hallway, hand in hand. 

“I’ll get Mom to make you hot cocoa, okay?”

Klaus nodded excitedly. He rubbed his eyes with his sleeve. Dad will be back for him later, but right now he’ll go have hot cocoa with his big brother, who he knows will have a stupid and awkward joke to try to cheer him up with, and the attempt will make him laugh more than the joke will. For now, he’ll be a little happy.


	3. Toxic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: for drug use and overdosing. I tried researching what it’s like, so I hope it’s accurate. 
> 
> Also, the chapters are gonna get longer as this goes along. Just an FYI

Klaus leaned back in the bathtub and sighed. 

_Finally. They're all gone._

His headphones were blasting Britney Spears as the drugs courses through his veins. His wide smile turned down at the corners as a wave of nausea passed over him. He felt faint and a sharp pain stabbed at his chest.

Klaus turned up his music and sunk lower into the water, trying to drown out the discomfort. His vision faded in and out of the dark. He couldn't breathe. 

_Am I dying? Is this what it feels like?_

He shut his eyes tight and consciousness was lost to him.

* * *

Commotion rang about his head as his eyes fluttered open. Grace was fluttering about above his head, and a firm hand grasped his own. There were outraged shouts and horrified cries just past his feet. 

_Maybe at a door? Where am I?_

His eyes shut again and he tried to shut out the noise. A ring rang out in his ear, and he fell unconscious again.

* * *

“You could have died.”

That was the first sentence Klaus heard when he woke up. His eyes were still shut, so there was no way that voice was talking to him. Why was he asleep again? And why was his head pounding? Last time he checked he had swallowed some pills and settled into a nice bath. Wait.

“Did you do it on purpose, or was it on accident? I kinda hope it was an accident, no matter how messed up that sounds. I couldn’t stand losing you too.”

Was that Luther talking to him? There’s no way! Mr.I’m-Gonna-Keep-My-Feelings-Right-Here-In-My-Chest-Then-One-Day-I’ll-Die himself couldn’t be talking to him. Must be the drugs. 

“What were you thinking? You made Ben and Vanya cry, are you happy with yourself?”

_Sounds like you’re the one crying, brother dear._

The other boy’s hand was still holding his own. His palms were sweaty, yuck. 

Klaus opened his eyes slowly, pretending he just woke up, and didn’t listen to his brother’s one-sided conversation. Said brother immediately wiped any tear residue off of his face.

“Why, hello. What are you doing here? Actually, a better question! What am I doing here?”

“You overdosed,” Luther said bluntly, before instructing him to sit up and drink some water. “Mom had to purge your system. You’re gonna be here a while.”

_Well, that explains things..._

Klaus stretched his arms back with a yawn.

”Well it's a good thing that dear-old-dad is on vacation again, huh? Or else I'd be soooo fucked.”

Luther let go of his hand like it had burned him.

”This isn't funny Klaus! You could have died, you almost died!” 

Klaus shrugged. 

”Now now, Number One, you can't be shouting at poor little me! I have a terrible headache, and that’ll just make it worse.”

He was joking, but Luther looked extremely guilty. _Shit._

“I’m sorry, just… get some sleep, Klaus. We can talk later.” 

He shimmied back down so his head was on the pillow and curled up. Luther stood up and started towards the door. Words burst out of Klaus’ mouth before he could think.

”You know I didn't do it on purpose, right? I didn't want this to happen.”

Luther turned, holding onto the doorframe like it was the only thing holding him up. He nodded gently with a pained smile on his face, then he was gone.


	4. Scissors And The Abstract Feeling Of Abandonment

It was supposed to be an easy mission. It was the first mission they were going on since Ben died, and it was supposed to be easy. None of them were ready for it, and it was supposed to be easy. 

Instead, Diego was knocked out and was lying in a pile of glass. Allison was fighting someone in the corner, and Luther was nowhere to be seen. 

Klaus pushed a tall, dark-haired man, who Diego was fighting before he got knocked out, flat onto his face. Said man recovered quickly and jumped back up to his feet. A scuffle started. Fists were swung and kicks were thrown. Klaus bit down as hard as he could on the guy’s hand. He yelped and pulled away, rubbing his hand. A feeling of satisfaction tugged at Klaus’ mind when he saw that he had drawn blood.

“Take that fucker!”

The man punched him in the face and Klaus hit the ground. Hard. The man had a pair of scissors he had gotten from somewhere during the scuffle, and was ready to use them. Good thing Klaus had freshly manicured nails and was ready to use them as well. Cuts and scratches littered their individual bodies as they rolled around. Klaus managed to get a kick in, hitting the man right in the balls. He grunted and keeled over. Once he recovered, he started swinging again.

Klaus vaguely heard Allison yell, and feet hit the hard cement floor.

The man finally got fed up, and he lifted the scissors over his head. He was just about to slam his arms down when his whole body tensed up. He slid over and his head hit the ground, limp. 

The muscle-corded frame of Spaceboy stood over them, a hammer clenched in his death grip. If Klaus didn’t know that this was the same kid who tripped and fell into a table, knocking out his two front teeth when they were eight, he would be scared. Luther looked furious. 

He reached a hand down to pull him up. Klaus grabbed it and was pulled to his feet like he weighed absolutely nothing. He brushed off his ridiculous leather jumpsuit and latched on to a particularly deep cut on his arm. Luther’s face switched from righteous anger to older sibling-like concern. 

“You okay?” He asked. 

Klaus nodded quickly. They didn’t have time to deal with his injuries right away, they needed to deal with the task at hand. Luther knew that. 

Allison slammed a woman’s head into a tabletop and ran over to help Diego, who was finally coming to. They ran towards the room together. Diego’s arm was slung over Allison’s shoulders, and Luther was holding Klaus’ forearm. They had to stick together. They didn’t need a repeat of-

It was dangerous to be separated.

  
  


Allison drove them home. Diego sat in the passenger seat with an ice pack, and Luther and Klaus were in the backseat, dealing with the latter’s injuries. They had narrowly avoided the press. 

“You have to be more careful,” Diego grunted from the front. “What would‘ve happened if that guy didn’t get knocked out?” 

They knew what would’ve happened. They knew it far too well. The rest of the drive was quiet. The mission had been a success, but it wouldn’t be good enough for Sir. Reginald. Nothing was ever good enough. Not even dying. 

They filed out of the car and into the house in numerical order, and Klaus tried to ignore the gaping empty space behind him, instead focusing on his sister’s hair. 

_I'll have to ask her what new shampoo she used._

Their father stood waiting at the door, with a look that was far too patronizing to give to four seventeen-year-olds. 

The debrief went about as well as ever, with a whole bunch of ‘ _I am very disappointed!’’_ s and some _’you can't let this affect your teamwork!’_ s. He had said the same things after Five disappeared.   
  


* * *

That night Klaus wandered down to the kitchen, weed makes you hungry after all when he heard Diego and Luther arguing. That was a staple in this shitshow of a household, but not like this. Luther sounded like he was… _begging?_ Klaus shrugged it off and kept waltzing around the kitchen, grabbing the ingredients for his sandwich. All of a sudden the front door slammed. Footsteps sounded on the stairs and after a minute Luther walked into the kitchen, looking dejected. 

”Diego’s gone.”

All of the joy that the weed had brought to him deflated. He felt tears well up. 

”Good for him.” he said nevertheless. ”Poor bastard needed to get out.”

Luther shook his head, clearly not ready for another argument. 

”I'm gonna go tell Allison.”

”What about Vanya?”

”Klaus, Vanya left a week ago.”

That threw him. How hadn't he noticed? The lack of violin music alone should have made him notice. 

_She didn't even say goodbye._

”Goodnight Klaus.” Luther said, before turning and walking towards the stairs once more, leaving him alone with his thoughts and his ghosts once more.


	5. Get Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A farewell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven’t updated in so long, I’ve had an... interesting month lol

He had many names. Number Four, The Séance, and Klaus Hargreeves. He knew that the moment he stepped out that front door, he’d be leaving two of those names behind. He knew that, and he had made his peace with it. He didn’t care, he needed to get out.

Out of this house, out of these expectations, and most of all, away from these fucking ghosts. He had his few personal items packed, including his crumbling eyeliner pencil and the shawl that Mom had given him. 

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Ben asked from the corner. 

“Of course I’m sure! I hate this fucking house Ben, I’m not staying here anymore. Everybody else is gone except Luther, and lord knows he’s not leaving unless its in a gurney,”

Ben shook his head but didn’t argue. Klaus grabbed his bag and dragged it down the stairs as quietly as possible. He had almost made it to the front door when a voice whispered behind him. 

“You’re leaving too?” 

Klaus turned his head to see Luther, standing in a worn t-shirt and his old constellation joggers. He looked heartbroken, but not surprised. 

“Yeah. I can’t stay.” Klaus said, running a spindly hand through his dark curls.

Luther nodded.

“I get it.”

They stood in silence. Klaus’ hand was hovering above the doorknob. All of a sudden they heard a door slam into a wall as it opened. 

”That's Dad, ” Luther said, pressing an envelope into his hand. ”You have to go. Now.” 

”But-”

”Go!”

Klaus threw the door open and ran. He heard the door slam shut through the whistling wind. He slid to a stop outside of the gate. Shouts could be heard behind the door and then a bang, like cracking wood. He started running again, Ben not far behind. He ran and ran and ran, far away from that stupid house that he had wasted 18 years of his life in.

When they were far enough away, they settled onto a park bench to catch their breath. Snow started falling softly from the sky, blown to and fro by the wind. 

”Hey, what's in that envelope Luther gave you?” Ben asked. 

”Let's find out.” He pulled it out of the pocket he had tucked it in and slid his black-painted fingernail under the seal. He opened it. 

”Holy shit.” He murmured.

”What is it?” Ben asked.

Inside the envelope was a large sum of money, and a note. Klaus pulled out the note. In Luther’s practiced and perfect handwriting it said,

_ Use this for food & shelter. Stay safe. Love you. L.H.  _

Klaus felt his heart swell. He turned his attention to the money. He counted it out slowly. 

”-$400, $500… Where did he get this?” Ben shrugged.

”I hope he's okay.” He said with a wrinkled brow. ”You heard that crash too, right?” 

Klaus nodded absently with a frown. Their sick excuse of a father never liked it when they defended each other from him. 

”I’m sure he's fine.” Ben said, clearly trying to assure himself more than his brother. 

Klaus stood up suddenly. 

”Let's go find a motel or something.” 

Ben nodded and stood as well. They headed out of the park and found a decent motel and Klaus dropped into bed. As sleep overtook him, he wondered what had happened to his brother after he left. 


	6. You Save Me I Save You Right Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyy last chapter. Did you guys see the announcement???? WE GOT OUR RELEASE DATE!!! 
> 
> This took me forever to write, my gosh. Check the tags for this one, it’s kinda rough.

Klaus’ hands were shaking as he pushed his headphones over his ears. 15 again. Wonderful. Thank you Five. The shakes filled his body and he dropped his head on his knees. They wouldn’t stop _screaming!_ He just wanted-

_No. Distraction, I need a distraction_. 

A loud bang came from down the hall. Then another. Then another. So loud he could hear it through his music.

“Whelp, I asked for a distraction.” 

He pulled his headphones off and clambered down the hall. The noises were coming from… Luther’s room. Weird. 

He kept rubbing his arms like it would stop his shivering. He kept staring forwards in an attempt to ignore the ghouls who decided it was an amazing idea to scream in his ear. 

Finally, he made it to the door. The noises from inside stopped when he knocked. 

“Luther? Can I come in?”

The sounds started up again and then creak of a mattress. 

“Yeah sure.” A muffled voice said. The door creaked as Klaus turned the handle. Luther was sitting on his bed, suspiciously stiff, with his legs criss-cross-applesauced. The skin around his eyes looked rubbed raw and teary. 

“What’s up?” The blonde boy asked. Klaus shrugged. 

“You know, just the usual… dead people and the withdrawal shakes.” He said, shaking his arms dramatically before plopping down next to his brother in the bed. Luther’s face held the empathetic expression that had been getting a lot of use recently. 

“So, what’s going on with you? I heard some very interesting noises from over here, and I thought I’d investigate.” 

If Luther’s posture could get more rigid, it would. His expression looked pinched.

“It was nothing, Klaus, it’s fine.” 

Huh. After 29 years, Luther still didn’t know how to lie. 

“It didn’t sound fine. And the state of your dresser would agree with me.” Klaus said, standing up and walking to the splintered boards that were haphazardly shoved together. As soon as he touched it with his hand it fell apart again. Luther shuffled up behind him. 

“I just fell, I’ll fix it later.” He said, still sounding shaky.

Klaus hummed a response. He noticed how erratic Luther’s breathing was. Instinctively, Klaus reached for his shoulder to comfort him. Luther jerked back suddenly, falling back onto the bed. 

Casper the not-so-friendly ghost decided that this was a perfect time to scream in Klaus’ face. He fell, shuffling backwards and pressing his back against the side of the bed. 

Arms scrambled to grab him and pulled him onto the bed. He grasped blindly as Luther’s arms enveloped him. 

”It’s okay. I won't let them hurt you.”

Klaus nodded into his chest. 

“I know.”

He pulled back and rubbed at his face. A sad smile crossed his face. 

“Ben was right.”

“Of course he was,” Luther said, “About what?” 

“He told me. That night at that rave, he had to convince me to help. “Nothing in this world he wouldn’t do to save your scrawny little junky ass,” that’s what he said.” He explained. 

Luther hugged him a little tighter. 

“I’m sorry that I made that something you had to doubt.” 

Klaus leaned his head on his brother’s shoulder. They just sat for a while. They were both getting better at the whole family thing. Eventually Klaus pulled back again. 

“So. What’s wrong?” 

Luther bristled again. 

“I- I don’t.”

“Nuh-uh,” Klaus wagged his finger, “It’s my turn to play good brother. What’s going on?” 

Luther shrugged haplessly, crossing his arms tight around his ribs.

”I think I had some kind of… Anxiety attack? I don't know, I just- I'm normal again. It's weird and confusing, and I can't stop thinking about the accident…” His fingers started painfully digging into his ribs.

“Hey, hey,” Klaus grabbed his wrists and pulled his hands apart, “Don’t do that- wait...” 

There were bandages visible through the fabric of Luther’s shirt. They wrapped all around his ribs and chest and upper arms. In some spots, blood seeped through. 

“What’s this?” Klaus asked, his voice taught with shock. Tears started filling Luther’s eyes again. 

“Just a… old habit.” He sighed. “After what happened… I started trying to _fix it._ It got worse on the moon, there wasn’t much I could distract myself with. I think I slipped.” He added quietly.

Klaus pulled Luther’s hands down and gripped them tight.

“And you’re still…”

“Yeah.” 

Klaus nodded and pulled him into another hug. They were both huge, crying messes for a while. And that’s okay. 

“You can tell me, you know,” Klaus mumbled into his brother’s shoulder. “When it starts bugging you.” 

Luther choked out a laugh and nodded. 

“Yeah. I know.” 


End file.
